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College Station, Texas-Texas A&M opened up its 2013 campaign against the Wisconsin Badgers and unveiled its new spread offense. The new offense came to play but the defense that was the best in the nation a year ago seemed like the group that was learning a new system. The Aggies jumped out early and scored points in bunches but a near Wisconsin comeback sent a scare through the Kyle Field crowd. The 37-34 victory extended the Texas A&M home win streak to 16 games and the overall win streak to eight.
The Badgers won the toss and elected to kickoff to the Aggies to start the game. The first quarter was won by the Aggies as they jumped out to a 14-0 lead in what seemed like a very quick quarter. Dorman threw the first two TD passes of his career in the opening quarter, but he wouldn't be done on the day. The first drive of the second quarter would see the Aggies threaten to open up the lead even more, but on third down the Wisconsin defensive line batted down a pass and forced a field goal attempt. Freshman kicker Harris would be attempting the first kick of his career as he replaces the best A&M kicker of all time, Randy Bullock. Harris stepped up and cooly knocked the 57 yarder right through the uprights showing fans why he is such a highly touted kicker. Wisconsin would answer back with a touchdown drive to get on the board. Phillips would hook up with WR Swan to put the Badgers on the board. Dorman would led his offense back down the field and a nice pass over the middle would set the Aggies up in the redzone.
Dorman Finds McNeal on the Post
Dorman would then proceed to hit Jackson in the endzone for another Aggies score giving them a commanding 24-7 lead. On the next Wisconsin drive it would seem as if the game was going to get out of hand. Phillips dropped back to pass, and the Aggies drew up a zone blitz. Bednarik and Lombardi Award winner, DE Simeon Rice would drop back into coverage and pick off the Phillips pass. This pick would set up the Aggies in good position yet again.
Rice Gets His First Career Pick
With 35 seconds left Dorman would throw another touchdown pass giving him four for the first half. Not a bad way to play in the first half of you first career start. The touchdown gave the Aggies a 31-7 lead and any fool could see that with the defense that A&M has the game was all but over. But the 90,000 fans in the seats were in for a treat as the game would turn very exciting, much to the dismay of the Aggie coaching staff. A mere 32 seconds after Dorman found McNeal Phillips was able to find Williams to give the Badgers their second touchdown of the game. The score gave Wisconsin life going into the locker room and they would come out a fired up bunch.
A touchdown on the first drive of the second half cut the A&M lead to 10 and Wisconsin was back in the game. At this point the Aggies needed to find a way to take back momentum but instead two forced Dorman passes were picked off giving the Badgers a chance at more points. However, the Aggies would get lucky as the Wisconsin kicker would push a critical field goal wide right. Two field goals by Harris would increase the A&M lead to 37-21 with just over five minutes left in the game. With 3:00 minutes left in the game Wisconsin would score to cut the lead to 10 points with the extra point ensuing. Wisconsin had to go for two to try and cut the lead to one possession. The result would be a wild play that nearly ended in two points for A&M.
Terrell Nearly Gets a 100 yard Two Point Play
Texas A&M would get the ball back and try to run some clock but a stop by Wisconsin put the ball back in the hands of the Badgers. Phillips would overthrow his receiver and it would be picked of by SS Brian Johnson. This picked seemed to end the game but the Badgers would have a few more tricks up their sleeve.
Johnson Gets the Interception
Another stop by the Badger gave them the ball back with less than 45 seconds left in the game. Phillips would promptly silence the crowd by completing a 68 yard bomb to pull the Badgers within three points and an onside kick away from an opportunity to tie.
Wisconsin Long TD Pass
The ensuing onside kick would be recovered by the Aggies and the game would end after a couple of Dorman kneel downs. The game would be much closer than the Aggies coaching staff would have liked but a win is a win and they will never complain about that. The defense will have some work to do to get ready for a tough Tennessee squad that visits Kyle Field in week three but until then the Aggies will enjoy their 1-0 start.
